Disclaimer: I do own the 3-volume set, .hack/legend of the twilight, on which much of this story is based, and I am watching the anime, .hack/SIGN. I don't own the 4 .hack PS2 games (they're almost impossible to buy right now); but, I did rent and play some of the third one. This story is simply my imagination taking a small journey...
.hack/DAWN
by: theoaktree
From: Mike127
Subject: the message board
Hey Freddy, I just finished supper and I'm going to read that thread that the lady told us about. I'll PM Personal Message you as soon as I log on.
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
From: MercedesX
Subject: re: the message board
I'll do the same and I'll wait for your PM
F the X-man
From: Zephyr
Subject: the next quest
Why are they doing this, Mike127? Do they want to delete us? I do not understand.
Go to Omega Cursed Corrupted Nothingness Field. The problem there is very different from those that have come before.
From: Mike127
Subject: re: the next quest
I don't know why they're doing it. I'm sorry they make you feel bad. I want to protect you if I can.
Can I bring more people in my party? I think their names are Cammie and Maggie.
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
From: Zephyr
Subject: re: the next quest
They are Kamui and Magi, and they work for CC Corp. They may accompany you because they could be of much help.
From: Mike127
Subject: Let's go
Hey Freddy, I'm done and we got another quest. Meet me at the root town of Omega Server. I'll be there right after I PM Kamui. She's that lady who asked us all those questions.
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
Mike127's party of four stood in front of the Omega Chaos Gate, perplexed. "I don't get it," said Mike. "What are virus cores?"
Kamui crossed her arms impatiently. "They were hackers' tools for getting into places where players were not permitted to go, and the only source for them, the Net Slums, was resolved by Aura a year ago, after Shugo and his party reunited Zephyr with her." She turned to Magi. "Is there anything you can do?"
"I've been trying," stated Magi tensely as she looked up from her floating screen. "It seems we're totally locked out."
"Why? Hm. Obviously it's not CC Corp's doing, since we would've been the first to know about it. Pah! Hackers!" She spit it out like poison. Turning to the Gate, she continued, "It's part of the attack, of course. They must've gotten wise after these boys nailed the last two. Ugh! I may have to contact Balmung to see if he can contact Helba..."
Mike started getting bored of all the talk and turned back to the Gate himself. Calling up the field list, he selected Cursed Corrupted Nothingness again, and got the lockout message as expected. Hmm...
From: Mike127
Subject: Help!
Zephyr, help! The gate won't let us in and I don't know what to do. Kamui doesn't either. She thinks it's part of the attack and I do too.
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
A quarter of an hour later, Kamui and Magi were having vigorous PM exchanges with other players, and Freddy and Mike were sitting on the side of the Gate platform feeling very bored.
"Come, Mike127." Zephyr had materialized beside the Gate, and the boys approached her. "Use this on the gate," she handed Mike a clear blue crystal, "when you get the lockout message."
Kamui, having seen Zephyr appear, stepped over to them. "Zephyr, may I examine that?"
Mike hesitated and looked at Zephyr, who nodded. He handed it over, and Kamui immediately passed it to Magi, who started typing feverishly on the screen.
"It's very similar to virus-core code," said Magi after a minute. "But, it's much more sophisticated, and I can't see anything in it that's dangerous to the World." She handed it back.
Kamui held the crystal up in front of Zephyr. "What are we supposed to do with this?"
Zephyr looked back calmly. "Give it to Mike127. He knows."
Kamui gave her an irritated look and passed it to Mike. "Well then, Mike127, let's do it."
"Yes ma'am," he said as he gingerly took it back again.
As Mike walked up to the Gate, Zephyr said, "I wish to join your party."
Mike paused for a moment. "Um, sure. It's your quest after all." He scanned the rest of the group. "Okay?" They nodded and he made the adjustment. Then he called up the field list, and, once he had selected the field and gotten the lockout message, he held his breath and underhanded the crystal into the Gate. They were beamed into the field like normal.
"Now what?" Kamui said to Mike.
"I gotta get the cookie arrows; so, I gotta kill a monster. Let's find some."
At that moment, a large pack of wolf-like monsters charged at them from over a neighbouring hill.
"Looks like you got a whole bunch!" yelled Freddy as he engaged one of them.
"They aren't dungeon monsters!" shouted Kamui as she swiped at several. "They don't have hit points!"
Magi hit five wolves with a MeRai Rom, a magical Thunder-type attack that raised a swirling tornado around the enemies; but, they simply got up and resumed their attack. "This is useless!" she cried out. "Cover my back, Kamui! I must do some research!"
"Right!" Kamui quickly moved to knock the wolves away from Magi as she worked, and Freddy followed her lead, helping as he could.
Mike figured out quickly that arrows were also useless, and he ran over to protect Zephyr. "You okay?" he asked her.
"These are simple sprites," she responded as she held up her hand at one wolf that was coming straight at her. It fell to the ground as if it had been turned to stone. "I will stop them all," and she stretched her arms all around. The entire pack joined the first one on the field around them. "They were meant to drive off regular players such as yourselves. Mike127, go get your arrows."
Kamui and Magi stood looking at Zephyr with their mouths open. Freddy hastened over to Mike and they scampered off to a swirling portal to attack the monsters that came out of it. When they were done, Mike reported, "Okay, I've got the cookie arrows!" He held them up triumphantly.
Kamui had quickly recovered from her surprise and asked Mike, "Can I see one of those?"
"Sure." Mike pulled one out and passed it over, and she handed it to Magi.
"Hm..." Magi checked the screen a couple of times. "What interesting code! It's a link. When it contacts the virus, it attaches itself to the virus's code, allowing Aura to integrate it into herself. She can do what she wants with it then."
"What a useful debug tool!" said Kamui. "I could certainly use something like that. Now, to the matter at hand: where is the virus in this field?"
Mike notched an arrow and scanned around, looking for any suspicious lock-ons, and found nothing. "I can't lock onto anything here; but, it just may be too far away."
"You can lock on with that bow?" asked Magi, interested. Mike nodded. "How useful."
"No kidding," responded Mike. "Maybe we should clear the open field, just in case. We can look around that way."
"That's reasonable," said Kamui. "Lead on."
"Hey! That's goofy! There isn't supposed to be a dungeon here!" shouted Freddy as he checked his map display one more time. But there it was, a standard cave-mouth entrance as big as life.
Zephyr walked over to the structure and sniffed it carefully. "This is six point five hours old. It is connected to the virus."
Magi consulted her screen. "I confirm that time. Just a moment! An approved code upgrade was done on this server then."
"I smell a trojan," said Kamui.
"What's a 'trojan'?" Mike asked Freddy discretely.
"Beats me."
"Ma'am, what's a trojan?" he asked Kamui.
Kamui sighed. "A program that's hidden in another piece of software, and which becomes active once that software is installed in a computer. It sounds like an inside job."
"It does, doesn't it," remarked Magi. "But what's the point? An extra dungeon?"
"Zephyr, can you tell us anything about this dungeon, since you were the one to tell Mike127 about it?" asked Kamui.
Zephyr touched the cave wall. "I am not able to determine much. The library files associated with the program are all encrypted."
"Encrypted?" Magi checked the screen once more. "And hidden. These guys are good, which I presume means that simple deletion of the dungeon won't fix the problem."
"I will begin a search for the decryption key in the CC Corp computer network," said Zephyr.
"It won't let you," stated Kamui emphatically. "I programmed the security myself."
Zephyr turned to her and said patiently, "I am the CC Corp computer network. It will let me." She hesitated for a moment. "I have found several keys; so, I will start to try them... There. The code hidden in the library files is not dangerous."
Mike, anxious to actually do something, said, "Well, what are we waiting for? It's not dangerous. Let's check it out." He headed for the entrance with Freddy close behind and they disappeared inside.